The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is naturally infected with Sarcocystis neurona

Sarcocysts were dissected from the tongue of a nine-banded armadillo (Dasyp us novemcinctus), DNA was extracted and characterised by PCR amplification followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and nucleotid e sequencing. A total of 1879 nucleotides were compared: the sarcocyst DNA sequence was identical to that reported for Sarcocystis neurona. DNA was ex tracted from the sarcocysts of five more nine-banded armadillos. A 254-nucl eotide sequence was determined for each and found to be identical to S. neu rona. Western blot techniques for detection of anti-S. neurona antibody wer e developed for use with armadillo plasma and samples from 19 wild-caught a nd 17 captive-raised armadillos were examined. Whereas all of the 19 wild-c aught armadillos had antibodies to S. neurona, only one of 17 captive-raise d armadillos did. These results suggest that the nine-banded armadillo are naturally infected with S. neurona. (C) 2001 Australian Society for Parasit ology Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.